Nail It Then Scale It authors to host local workshop

SAULT STE. MARIE - The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) announced that two acclaimed authors of the hit book Nail It Then Scale It will visit Sault Ste. Marie to provide expertise to local small businesses during a half-day workshop at the Delta Waterfront Hotel and Conference Centre on February 20.

Nail It Then Scale It is a start-up business model book outlining the process used to transform new ventures from start-ups to companies that outperform competitors, increase sales, and “transform a broken sales process into a 100 percent close rate.”

The workshop, Growing a Winning Business Model, features authors Paul Ahlstrom and Nathan Furr.

The first 35 registrants of the workshop, including those who have already registered, receive a copy of Nail It Then Scale It.

These acclaimed speakers have traveled worldwide, and praise for their book has come from the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Inc., and Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm, and Inside the Tornado.

During this interactive session, Paul and Nathan will discuss:

Defining Business Model Innovation

Key considerations in developing a business model

Tools for business model generation

Assessing and choosing business models

”We are thrilled to be able to bring these two highly acclaimed speakers to Sault Ste. Marie,” said Tom Vair, executive director, SSMIC. “This workshop will help any business person learn the way to successfully and repeatedly innovate as well as learning common mistakes to avoid.”

Paul Ahlstrom is an entrepreneur and investor who focused most of his career on the early-stage start up process.

Paul founded multiple high-technology start-up companies and investment funds in the United States and Mexico.

In addition to fund creation and investment experience, Paul has direct entrepreneurial and operating experience, having personally founded multiple start-ups.

Paul was a founding advisory board member of Brigham Young University’s Rollins eBusiness Center, and he is listed as one of the Founders of Brigham Young University’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

Paul also serves on the executive committee and board for the University of Utah’s Technology Commercialization Office.

Nathan Furr earned his PhD from Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University and is currently an entrepreneurship professor at Brigham Young University.

Nathan’s research focuses on market development and early stage entrepreneurship, including leading the Lean Start up Research Project and the “e-school” approach to rethinking how we teach entrepreneurship.

His current research examines how both start ups and existing firms successfully adapt to enter a new market.

Nathan has co-authored papers on the process by which firms develop innovative business models, the determinants of success for firms changing industries, and the impact of organizational learning on international entry.